Eating back exercise calories made me gain - so confused

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  • Darmonatrix
    Darmonatrix Posts: 35
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    i used to eat my calories earned from excercise back. lost about 1lb a week. nowadays i dont touch it. the weight drops off.
  • donnacervelli11
    donnacervelli11 Posts: 109 Member
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    we overcomplicate EVERYTHING!! Simplicity is key here...if you are losing great! if you are feeling a bit weak and hungry eat!!
    Do not follow the many false guidelines and fad diet and so called health practices on this site and other sources..just keep it simple and elegant


    YAY!!!! K.I.S.S es all around!!!

    (totally agree with this! BUT of you must count calories to keep yourself from overeating, like me, then I would advise doing the following.
    1- Calculate you BMR and TDEE (lots of tools online)
    2- Eat somewhere in the middle
    3- buy a food scale so your calories recorded are accurate (very important!)
    4-on days you do very high intensity workouts eat at least half of your calories back, but on low/easy days don't eat any back
    5- watch your sodium!!
    6-You want to consistently come in under your recommended carbs and over on the protein

    If you are careful not to overestimate your calories burned, (maybe get a HRM...but even that has variance in accuracy) then you will lose weight if you do this.

    Hm - my sodium intake is usually out of control. Along with carbs, salt is one of my weaknesses. That's interesting about the carbs & protein. I'll make a conscious effort to eat more protein, less carbs and see if that helps. I was wearing a Body Media Fit band for a few weeks, but at the moment, I'm not 100% convinced of it's accuracy.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,692 Member
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    You lost the point of my posts again. EATING BACK is a bad idea. Plan your food around what you need to eat. Don't wait till you enter and then EAT BACK. You do not understand what I'm saying at all do you???
    For all intensive purposes that's fine IF the routine is the same everyday. But one if one works out longer? Or doesn't work out that day because they missed class due to commuting traffic? Somedays I'll add in more than I usually do. For instance last Sunday I went trampoline jumping for an hour. Haven't done it since my 20's. Had I planned my regular Sunday food intake, I would have had too big a calorie deficit. So while planning ahead is a good habit, one still adjusts to how one is active on any given day.
    Don't worry, I got this down. That's why I do it for myself and others for a living.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    For all intents and purposes sir, no. I don't think you should go eat whatever you feel like eating because you jumped on a trampoline. If your numbers are set correctly it will even out. Also *AGAIN* I will say that it matters what you put in your mouth, IF you are actually at a 20% less than peak HR long enough to burn calories you think you are burning and WHEN you put that food in your mouth. (BTW, I do a post workout meal, and carry protein with me for my *just in case I jump on a trampoline long enough to burn 200 calories* moments)

    the *you* is the collective you. You know your body and I can guarantee you reacted to the situation properly. I am talking about the average Jane/Joe that thinks when they exercise they deserve a 200 calorie treat.
    You can believe what you want. I'll stick with science.:laugh: Special snowflakes can do whatever works for them.
    I work with people who don't need complication. MFP sets a calorie limit to lose weight without exercise. You add in the exercise and it ups the calories. It's not rocket science. It's worked for years and years and years because the body has basically been the same for years and years and years.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 Member
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    Doing the math right is cool, but I believe the problem is having too much faith in the numbers. Even assuming you've picked an approach that will give you a calorie deficit (either MFP or the TDEE-x% approach), the fact is you have to understand that every number you use is only an estimate.

    For the first 3 months I used MFP I lost 1.5 pounds a week. It wasn't a smooth process--there were ups and downs, but it averaged out to 1.5 lbs a week like clockwork. But here's the thing... based on my estimates of calorie intake and my exercise burn I should have been losing at least 2 lbs a week.

    I was weighing my food and using food labels, etc., and I have a Polar FT7 to give me my exercise burn, but the sad fact is I had to have been underestimating calories and/or the Polar was overestimating my burns. It was fine, though, because I'd set MFP to sedentary and a 1lb a week loss. I was not eating back my exercise calories (there were plenty of days when it appeared I netted under 1200--gee, I didn't fall over and die of malnutrition, and I continued to lose!).

    So bottom line, every label, every food entry in food databases--those are all estimates. And I'd wager that underestimating calorie intake is much more likely than overestimating--especially when you eyeball serving portions (I'm guilty of that) or forget to log something (yep, that too). Calorie burn--if you get it from MFP or the exercise equipment, it could be off by quite a bit. Even HRMs--who knows how good the estimate is for you personally?

    So if you're stuck on a plateau, the simplest explanation is that your numbers are lying to you. My recommendation is that before you go off down the path of "I'm in starvation mode!!" try to really bear down on weighing/measuring your portions. Make sure the MFP numbers make sense (i've seen plenty of incorrect entries out there). And if you're using the MFP approach, don't eat back all of your exercise calories (but do listen to your body--don't make yourself weak). And don't ever believe this is JUST simple math. Yes, the math is simple, but the data could be systematically off.

    When the numbers don't work you at least know a number that doesn't work and if you've been consistent you can adjust from there based on data and more math.

    Math works.
  • ksloop00
    ksloop00 Posts: 144
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    I do not follow that silly idea. Why would you eat back what you worked so hard to burn?

    Exactly! You exercise to get rid of them.
  • ellen_kay
    ellen_kay Posts: 304 Member
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    I very seldom will eat back my exercise calories. I usually try to stay around my daily limit or at a 400-500 deficit of what my daily limit and exercise add up to. I also have a Fitbit that syncs with MFP and I follow that pretty close.
  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 Member
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    Your activity level is closer to moderate than lightly active. I would start with the the TDEE - 10% numbers. Give it a good month or so. Start using your food scale, log accurately, and increase your protein intake to 1 gram per pound of lbm. Also, as you are lifting, look at other guages of measurement than just your scale. Water weight fluctuates wildly, so the scale can be misleading. Because of body recomposition, it's pretty common with heavy lifters to go down in sizes but not weight. Go by how your clothes fit. Enjoy your training and congratulate yourself on gains there. :flowerforyou:

    Make sure you log accurately (weigh your food!), or all of your number crunching will be for naught.


    Nope. Activity level is not including exercise if you are logging exercise. Common mistake. I lost almost a month to that one.

    Not sure what you are "noping" here. My recommendation of following her TDEE - 10% already takes into account her activity. She would need to set her goals manually (using the "custom setting, instead of "guided"). That would mean not logging exercise (or entering it as 1 calorie burned, like lots of us do), because it's already worked in to her daily caloric goals. But, she needs to go with an accurate activity setting, which for her is moderately active (based on her description of her training schedule, not lightly active.

    Apologies, intended to quote the post directly above yours.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,692 Member
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    I do not follow that silly idea. Why would you eat back what you worked so hard to burn?

    Exactly! You exercise to get rid of them.
    You lose weight through calorie deficit. Exercise is for fitness, conditioning and retention of lean muscle. You don't NEED to exercise to lose weight or body fat.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Julzanne72
    Julzanne72 Posts: 467 Member
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    bump
  • joyincincy
    joyincincy Posts: 228 Member
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    That is very smart advice. The guessing game is also very smart, as it challenges what you think you know! You are right, no one wants to hear that they are doing it wrong, but should be grateful when someone points out that it may be time to reevaluate. I admit, I fail at weighing all of my food, but am working to correct that.
  • Greciankoukla
    Greciankoukla Posts: 33 Member
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    I have read so much on this even a recent magazine in Fitness magazine and it says DO NOT EAT BACK exercise calories. It is really confusing. LOL I eat 1600-1800 calories a day and burn about on average 600 calories a day working out and I do not eat those calories back. I feel great, am not starving and have lost 19 pounds in 60 days.
  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 Member
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    Effects of eating them back while running a net deficit

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    f841239ed7f9cd0c97e8bf13b5e36a0e_zps837bf359.jpg
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Gah at the people who eat 1200 a day and say they put on weight if they eat their exercise calories back. Of course you will. Your metabolism has slowed down because you're starving yourself, so it will stock any extra calories as fat. You'll gain weight again as soon as you go in maintenance mode. Good luck sustaining 1200 calories all your life. Be smart and eat what you should, even if you temporarily gain, you'll lose it back in a HEALTHY way down the line.

    I swear there should be a warning that everyone's supposed to read when starting MFP that explains that you should never ever eat 1200 and not eat your exercise calories back.

    THIS IS MyFITNESSPal. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO EAT YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES BACK. The activity level you pick here has nothing to do with the exercise you're doing. It's separate.

    /rant off

    OP, use your scale, calculate all your recipes if you have to, use your heart monitor to determine how many calories you're burning through exercise, eat those back, and you should lose weight eventually. You should expect to gain either way if you've been heavy lifting while overeating a little bit, but it's probably muscle.
  • broscientist
    broscientist Posts: 102 Member
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    Damn everyone is just complicating this.
    You are not losing weight because you are underestimating your food intake.

    Get a food scale and your problem is solved.
  • melindasuefritz
    melindasuefritz Posts: 3,509 Member
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    eating back calories didnt cause u to gain
  • melindasuefritz
    melindasuefritz Posts: 3,509 Member
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    u dont mention how many calories u are eating???????????
  • TLWallperson
    TLWallperson Posts: 125
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    eating back calories is stupid and useless.

    Agree. Has never made any sense why you would do this.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    eating back calories is stupid and useless.

    Agree. Has never made any sense why you would do this.

    It doesn't make sense because you aren't aware of MFPs intake recommendations. If you were aware of how they calculate this, you would see why your statement is incorrect.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf


    I've linked this earlier but apparently nobody read it.
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
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    eating back calories is stupid and useless.

    Agree. Has never made any sense why you would do this.

    It doesn't make sense because you aren't aware of MFPs intake recommendations. If you were aware of how they calculate this, you would see why your statement is incorrect.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf


    I've linked this earlier but apparently nobody read it.

    The first rule of this thread is that nobody is allowed to comment or read any other posts in this thread before writing their reply.
  • joe_d
    joe_d Posts: 73 Member
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    Well, but math based on crappy data is pretty pointless, no? So yes, the simple additions and subtractions we do will pump out a result, but when the math doesn't get you the results you hope for, it might just be a a case of garbage in, bad results out.
    You've got to be pretty rigorous about your measuring and portioning, but still almost plan on the fact that you're underestimating your calorie intake. (This is why many folks say to eat back only a portion of the exercise calories--to give you a buffer against bad data.) It absolutely slays me when a frustrated MFP'er who's gaining or plateaued asks for help, and the first thing that happens is a million folks come flying out of the woodwork screaming at them to eat more--without even mentioning the obvious and most likely possibility that the numbers they're logging are off, or they haven't adjusted their calorie target downward as they weigh less, etc. I've been struggling to lose my last 5 pounds, and I'm fairly sure it's because I've been careless about my logging.

    My advice would be always to check on the quality of the numbers first, then move on to the less likely/more esoteric things like a slowed-down metabolism (unless the person is running with a very low calorie net on a consistent basis--that could be an issue).

    On the whole, you put your faith more in the math, I put mine more in the data. Other than that, we're probably in violent agreement. :wink:

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